Safety-lock for elevator-door chains.



Patented June 27, 1916.

f5. WM

Inventor:

BENJAMIN VVEXLER, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

SAFETY-LOCK FOR ELEVATOR-DOOR CHAINS.

Application filed September 9, 1915.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, BENJAMIN IVEXLER, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of New York city, borough of Brooklyn, in the county of Kings and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Safety-Locks for Elevator-Door Chains, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to an improved safety lock for elevatorshaft door chains for the purpose oflocking the chains and preventing the upper door from dropping in case any part of the chain connecting the upper with the lower door, breaks.

Doors in the shafts of freight elevators are usually hung to slide vertically in suitable guides and are connected by a chain or equivalent, attached to the doors and passed over suitable pulleys so as to compel the doors to move together, but in opposite directions, either upward or downward. In case the chain or chains thus connecting the doors, breaks, the upper door descends under its weight and is apt to injure persons having parts of their body below the door. For the lower door a stop is provided which checks its downward movement when the desired limit has been reached.

The object of my invention is to provide a new and improved safety bolt, which is attached to the upper door and automatically locks the same before its lower edge can strike the upper edge of the lower door in case one of the chains break, which safety bolt is simple in construction, strong, durable and reliable, and can easily be applied on any elevator door.

In the accompanying drawings in which like letters of reference indicate like parts in all the figures :Figure 1 is an elevation of two elevator shaft doors connected to slide vertically, the doors being mounted in the usualway and the upper door provided with my improved lock. Fig. 2 is an enlarged detail view of the'lock showing its relation to the chain. Fig. 3 is a side view of the lock and its easing, the front plate being removed. Fig. 4 is a detail view on the line a a, Fig. 3. Fig. 5 is a horizontal sectional view through the casing, the chain and the guide. I

I have illustrated one embodiment of my safety bolt and will now proceed to describe the same: The elevator shaft doors are mounted in pairs to slide vertically.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented. June 27, 1916.

Serial No. 49,656.

The upper door 1 and the lower door 2 are mounted to slide on the guides 3 which have an outwardly projecting vertical flange d in the usual way. A link chain 5 has one end attached to the side of the upper door, near the bottom edge and passes over a pulley 6. The opposite end of the chain 5 is attached to a cross bar 7 on the upper edge of the lower door, which cross bar 7 extends beyond the flange *1 so that when this door is in lowered position, the cross bar 7 finds a support on stops 8 secured to the flange 4.. This is the conventional way of mounting and constructing sliding elevator doors. Adjacent to the fastening of the chain 5 to the upper door, I attach a casing 9 to the inner surface of said door, which casing is located at the side of the door near the bot tom edge of the same and on the inner surface of the door. The casing contains a longitudinally sliding bolt 10, the reduced tail end 11 of which is surrounded by a spring 12 which bears against a vertical guidel3 which is provided with a vertical slot 14: through which the tail end 11 projects so that said tail end can slide longitudinally and also move up and down. At the outer end of the casing the bolt 10 passes through a vertical guide 15 which is also slotted vertically so that the bolt can slide longitudinally and up and down. Two pins 16 project from the bolt through slots 17 in the inner wall of the casing and which are inclined upward and toward the free end of the casing at about 45 degrees so that when the bolt 10 is released and is moved outward by the spring 12, it also moves upward to the limit of the slots 17. A pin 18 projects from the inner side of the bolt beyond the casing 17 but some distance inward from the free end of the bolt.

The operation is as follows: The casing 9 is attached to the upper door in such a manner that the pin 18 is at the inner side of the chain 5 and by the spring 12 is pressed against said chain as shown in Fig. 5, the bolt 10 being in the lowered position and only slightly projected. The chain being intact it is held taut by the weight of the two doors and prevents the bolt 10 being projected any farther beyond its casing. The bolt is held in this position as long as the chain is intact. If the chain breaks, it is no longer taut and the pin 18 pressing against the link 20 of the chain can swing the same toward the flange 4; of the guide,

thus permitting the bolt to move outward sufficiently to project beyond the stop 21 which is secured to the flange 4 and thus when the door drops on account of the chain breaking, the door is arrested as soon as the bolt strikes the stop 21, of which one or more may be secured to the flange 4:. If the chain breaks at any other part, it becomes slack and as soon as the chain becomes slack, the link against which the pin 18 rests is moved toward the guide flange L, permitting the bolt to shoot outward sufliciently to encounter a stop 21. As long as the chain is not broken or slackened and is held taut, it offers sufiicient resistance to the bolt to prevent the same being thrown outward by the spring. The bolt however is not thrown outward only but outward and upward so as not to act on the links of the chain at right angles only but with an upward thrust at the same time, thus insuring a proper movement of the bolt, suliiciei'it to catch on the stop 'and also to more readily bend the broken chain.

Having described my invention what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is 1. The combination with sliding elevator shaft doors and chains from which they are suspended, of a bolt, a member on the bolt bearing directly against the inside of the chain, means for pressing the bolt outward, means for moving it upward while moving outward and stops for said bolt when shot, substantially as set forth.

2. The combination with sliding elevator shaft doors and chains from which they are suspended, of a bolt attached to the door at the side edge of the same, means for pressing the bolt directly against the inner side of the chain, a member on the bolt bearing against the chain and located near the outer end of the bolt, a casing for the bolt, guides for the bolt for permitting it to move out ward and inclined slots in the casing and pins on the bolt engaging said slots, substantially as set forth.

3. The combination with an elevator shaft door and a chain from which said door is suspended, of a bolt on the door guided to move upward while movingoutward and means for pressing said bolt against the inner side of the chain, substantially as set forth.

Signed at New York city, in the county of Kings and State of New York this 15 day of h'larch A. D. 1915.

BENJAMIN VVEXLER.

\Vitnesses I GEO. SoriIvn-uEU VVILLIAM Trims.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner 01 Parents. Washington, D. C. 

